Diagram of the Environment of the Center of the Crab Nebula

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(Illustration) This is a diagram of the environment around the pulsar at the heart of the Crab Nebula, based on images taken by the Hubble Space Telescope. The jets of high speed particles, and the outward moving 'equatorial wisps', are powered by the pulsar, which is the rapidly rotating crushed remnant of an exploded star.